Samsung to Launch the World's First MIMO Notebook

"Given their significant technology lead, Airgo's True MIMO is the best fit for embedded wireless in our new high-performance Samsung X20 laptops," said K.H. Uhm, vice president of marketing for Samsung. "Together, we are enabling the mobile office by offering a standards-based platform with wireless connectivity that outperforms all other embedded solutions on the market."

NPD Techdata reports that sales of Wi-Fi products with Airgo's True MIMO chipset have been growing at a 48 percent monthly compounded growth rate since the first full month of shipping in the US retail market. With this embedded laptop win, Airgo expands into the large and growing PC OEM market segment. According to IDC, WLAN shipments for mobile PCs will grow from over 50 million in 2005 to more than 100 million by 2009.

"As people rely more on wireless connectivity for their computer networking at work and at home, they are learning that the quality of their wireless connection is one of the most important buying factors in choosing a notebook computer", said Greg Raleigh, president and chief executive of Airgo Networks. "Samsung has jumped into the lead on wireless notebooks by integrating Airgo's True MIMO solution into its X20 and X25 computers, providing consumers with worry free connectivity that supports even the highest speed applications. At more than 10 times the performance of competing Intel Centrino powered alternatives, these new Samsung's True MIMO powered products are by far the best choice for wireless notebook buyers."

Airgo's second generation True MIMO chipset is a high performance, cost-effective and low power alternative to the more basic Intel Centrino 802.11g and 802.11a/b/g. In its second generation chipset, Airgo has reduced the overall bill of materials (BOM) cost by about 20 percent and reduced power consumption by 18 percent, all while maintaining industry-leading range, throughput and reliability. According to third party testing conducted by The Tolly Group, Samsung laptops with embedded True MIMO technology provide a more reliable user experience with 8 times the speed and 13 times the coverage as compared to the same notebook model with the latest model of the Intel Centrino wireless card. Power consumption testing also shows that Airgo True MIMO technology is 2.1X more energy efficient than Centrino wireless, resulting in dramatically improved battery life when Airgo True MIMO solutions are embedded in the laptop.

The new Samsung X20 laptops with embedded Airgo True MIMO technology are fully compliant with the current IEEE 802.11a/b/g standards while simultaneously delivering extended range and higher data rates in a single 20MHz channel. True MIMO ensures a robust wireless connection with the throughput-at-range and quality of service needed to run advanced applications at real world ranges. Consumers benefit from this increased range, throughput, reliability and battery efficiency, while maintaining full compatibility with other devices on the same network and without creating interference on neighboring networks.

Airgo is the only company to conceive, develop and deliver MIMO OFDM– the technology at the core of the 802.11n next generation wireless LAN standard that sets a new performance bar for Wi-Fi customers. Airgo's True MIMO has revolutionized wireless technology by leveraging multipath– reflections of a radio signal– that for the last 100 years has been considered an impediment to radio performance. True MIMO takes advantage of multipath, and transmits multiple signals in a single 20MHz radio channel. These two advances lead to a multiplying effect in both data rates and reliable coverage area without using any additional spectrum. True MIMO refers to the specific form of MIMO based on spatial multiplexing as defined by all major proposals for the next generation 802.11n standard.